In His Arms// ziam au

0.7

With a lot of pleading, begging and the promise of a new pair of shoes Liam convinced Harry to go out for dinner. Liam was going to surprise Harry with a new pair of boots anyway because the ones Harry had were worn out, but Harry didn't have to know that.

When Liam pulled up to Harry's house, to his dismay, Harry walked out wearing a shirt covered in hands. Liam groaned in dismay. Now Zayn was going to think that he had weird friends.

"What are you wearing?" Liam questioned the boy once he got into the car.

"Shirt...jeans...boots" Harry shrugged looking down at his outfit.

"Why does your shirt have hands on it" Liam asked being more specific even though they both knew what Liam was referring to the first time.

"It's called fashion Liam. Look it up."

Liam didn't say anything. He just sighed and put the car in drive. (Later that night Liam looked up Harry's shirt and it was made by Burberry, so it was indeed fashion.)

Everything was going great until Liam and Harry walked into the restaurant and saw who Louis was. Liam grimaced and Harry visibly deflated. Louis was someone that they both thought they had left behind in high school.

As soon as they sat down, Louis got that gleam in his eye that Liam knew all too well. "Payno! You look like a proper action man" He complimented Liam devilishly. Liam muttered a thanks and then almost sort of shut Louis out completely.

Zayn watched this interaction carefully and started to put together that Liam and Louis knew each other and not in a good way. He also observed how Harry had crawled into his shell by keeping his eyes glued to the table and not saying a word. Liam's demeanor had also changed from the open and cheery guy he knew to closed off and protective. But then Zayn looked at Louis and grew confused because Louis looked as if nothing was wrong and was sat with a cheerful smile.

"So how do you guys know each other?" Zayn asked in an attempt to break the ice.

"Zayn you fool! How could you not remember Harold here and the Payno" Louis reminded Zayn. Suddenly Zayn did remember. He remembered Harry who was a few years younger who had rocked the over curly hair and "lesbian glasses" along with Liam the all-around good kid. Harry he couldn't have cared less about but he did vaguely remember hating on Liam with Louis but; Liam looked so different now. He filled out his clothes now and didn't look as... annoying. Also, Zayn really like his hair. It looked soft and he just wanted to touch his head. Harry, on the other hand, was completely unrecognizable. Puberty hit him hard. His curls were now just right and he traded out the glasses for contacts. Also, now instead of a round baby face he was all jawline. He was almost intimidating, until he smiled then his dimples showed and became all fluff. Zayn may have stared at Harry for a little too long (he definitely stared at Liam for too long) but the boy was so focused on not making eye contact that he didn't take notice. This bothered Zayn. He wanted everyone to enjoy themselves; not just Louis who was having a grand time interrogating Liam about life after high school.

"Harry I like your shirt. Is it new from the Burberry line?" Zayn asked the shy boy. Harry looked up and smiled and Zayn knew he had broken the seal. He and Harry begun to discuss fashion. Eventually Louis grew tired of bothering Liam and he left the boy alone long enough that he could join into Zayn and Harry's conversation.

Louis for one didn't care about fashion or anything that the other three boys were conversing about so he kept quiet. He tried to interject and change the subject a few times but the boys would just pause and then continue talking. He got the feeling that Harry and Liam didn't want to talk to him anyways. Louis thought that since high school had been over for a few years, they would forget his past actions but he was wrong. Not that Louis necessarily felt regret for what he did he just figured if they would just get over it would make his life a little easier seeing as Zayn had taken a liking to them.

Once Liam got over the fact that Louis was there, dinner was actually really good. He got to know Zayn on a deeper level than quick conversations in a flower shop. At first he thought that he had miscalculated Zayn when he saw that he was friends with Louis but he was wrong. Zayn was a good guy, a great guy actually and it made Liam's heart ache even more to know that he was taken. After dinner they made plans to make going out a weekly kind of thing and they went their separate ways.

On the car ride home Louis was quiet. Usually when he was in Zayn's car he turned the music up, tried to smoke cigarettes, and was just plain obnoxious but today he just sat in the passenger's seat silently. In all honesty, Zayn and Louis didn't exactly have one of those friendships where they sat around having deep conversations. Their friendship was more like riding around town causing hell for anyone that got into their way and smoking some illegal things when Perrie wasn't around. Zayn knew all of this, but the way his personality was set up he couldn't drop Louis off if he knew that his friend wasn't all smiles as usual.

"A penny for your thoughts" Zayn spoke breaking the silence.

"What the hell Zayn, literally no one says that anymore" Louis quipped back. Zayn relaxed a little; sassy Louis he could handle, sad Louis he could not. After that Zayn kept quiet because he knew that Louis had something to say. The way to get things out of Louis was to make it seem like it was his idea to open up and that no one in any way had provoked him. So Zayn waited.

" 'Member in high school when I did that thing that got me expelled." Louis said quietly almost to himself as if he didn't want Zayn to hear him.

"Yeah" Zayn replied confused on why Louis was talking about this.

"Did you ever wonder who I did it too?" Louis asked looking down into his hands.

"No because you told me that you didn't do it." Zayn brow was furrowed in confusion now.

"I lied. I did it." Louis said towards the window looking anywhere but at Zayn.

"Louis..."

"I did it to Harry."

That night for the first time since he graduated high school Harry had a sleepover at Liam's. Even though Louis hadn't acted rude that night just seeing him brought back memories of what had happened. Harry didn't trust himself to be alone, so instead he cuddled up into Liam's bed falling asleep with a smile on his face because even though the world sucked he was lucky enough to have a friend like Liam.